The Times and the Bulgarian Massacres
Improved telegraph connections and printing technology, expanded foreign bureaus, and increased circulation coalesced to make the mid-1870s the zenith of newspaper influence in Great Britain. These changes in mass media coincided with the Bulgarian massacres in May of 1876, perpetrated primarily by irregulars in the Ottoman Empire's army against Bulgarian Christians. From June to October, the British public, led by the press, formed a passionate agitation movement against the Ottoman state as well as their own government for its lack of transparency and its support for the unchanging, repressive Sultanate. This thesis studies the impact of the "The Times," the most prominent British paper, on directing public opinion, driving public outrage, and ultimately, influencing governmental policy, as the British government moved to finally abandon their deteriorating ally.